Saturday, April 11, 2015

A 17-year-old, documented as Cassandra C., -her true name has not
been revealed due to her status as a juvenile)- was forced to undergo six
months of chemotherapy against her will to treat Hodgkin lymphoma. Recently she has been denied a motion to return to her mother's home or hold visitation rights. Cassandra
was initially diagnosed with the cancer in September 2014, and was told that she had
an 85% chance of survival if treated with chemotherapy; without it, doctors asserted
she would die within two years. After undergoing treatment for two days in
November, Cassandra ran away and was consequently placed under the custody of
the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. In spite of an intense
legal battle, doctors surgically implanted a port in her chest to administer
the medication in December, and Cassandra has been in good health since
then.Ultimately, her lawyers failed to
prove that Cassandra was mature enough to make her own medical decisions. A
judge has ruled that Cassandra will remain in temporary custody of the state
until the end of April when her last round of chemotherapy is complete, and
will then be free to return home, even though her lawyers assert that she is currently
no longer in jeopardy from her disease and should be free to leave now. This
case illustrates the ongoing debate between patient autonomy and beneficence, the
physician's duty to act in the patient's best interests.

A 17-year-old, documented as Cassandra C., -her true name has not
been revealed due to her status as a juvenile)- was forced to undergo six
months of chemotherapy against her will to treat Hodgkin lymphoma. Recently she has been denied a motion to return to her mother's home or hold visitation rights. Cassandra
was initially diagnosed with the cancer in September 2014, and was told that she had
an 85% chance of survival if treated with chemotherapy; without it, doctors asserted
she would die within two years. After undergoing treatment for two days in
November, Cassandra ran away and was consequently placed under the custody of
the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. In spite of an intense
legal battle, doctors surgically implanted a port in her chest to administer
the medication in December, and Cassandra has been in good health since
then.Ultimately, her lawyers failed to
prove that Cassandra was mature enough to make her own medical decisions. A
judge has ruled that Cassandra will remain in temporary custody of the state
until the end of April when her last round of chemotherapy is complete, and
will then be free to return home, even though her lawyers assert that she is currently
no longer in jeopardy from her disease and should be free to leave now. This
case illustrates the ongoing debate between patient autonomy and beneficence, the
physician's duty to act in the patient's best interests.

Blog Archive

Subscribe to the Blog

Blog Authors

ShareThis

TuftScope: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Health, Ethics, and Policy

TuftScope is a student journal published biannually in conjunction with Tufts University since 2001. Funding is provided by the Tufts Community Union Senate. The opinions expressed on this weblog are solely those of the authors. The staff reserves the right to edit blog postings for clarity and to remove nonfunctional links.